By Kate Eubanks
How can religious beliefs shape the moral framework people use to evaluate new technologies? Rice University's Boniuk Institute, in partnership with the University of California, San Diego, are leading a new $2.9M international research project which spans 15 studies across 8 nations to examine how faith and identity shape the global tech sector, with the goal of establishing ethical guidelines for the future of work and AI.
In an October gathering that takes place during Rice's AI week, scholars from a range of disciplines and institutions, will gather to investigate the intersection of religion, morality and technology across three areas: artificial intelligence, human biotechnologies, and technologies that affect the natural world. Institutions represented are Harvard, Oxford, Purdue, Nottingham, the National University of Singapore and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Bhopal, among others.
The project reflects an important dimension of religious literacy: understanding how religious beliefs and traditions can influence moral reasoning about human flourishing, responsibility, risk and then common good to determine what should be pursued, what should be regulated, and how new technologies should be used. Religion can be an important part of these moral frameworks.
Over the coming years, their work will contribute to a better understanding of how religious and moral ideas shape our responses to some of the most consequential scientific and technological developments of our time.
Responsible Futures: Religion, Morality, and New Scientific Technologies is funded by the Templeton Religion Trust (TRT-2024-33523).